Precipitation apparatus.



T. EDWARDS.

PRECIPITATION APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 15, 1910.

Patented Aug. 16, 1910;

d 1 f o aa o fi w 3 na a u w flzflw 6 3 P... x 3 3 59x a ad a hex, u a 0 THE pwmzls PETERS :o-. wAsmNcru-v. n. c.

. make and use the same.

PRECIPITATION APPARATUS.

Application filed February 15,

PatentedAug. 16, 1910. 1910. Serial No. 544,067.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THoMAs Eownnns, a subject of the King of GreatBritain and Ireland, &c., residing at Ballarat, in the State of Victoria, Commonwealth of Australia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Precipitation Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to w ich it appertains to tion. Fig. 2 is a plan View, end view 111 transverse section.

a represents any floor or precipitation box or trough of wood or 1e1' known suitable material of suitable form, that shown having its base 0 narrower than its top; 6 are sides, and 0! ends. A series of partitions it, 9, divide the trough into a series of compartments 2', which alternate with several compartments 7'. All compartments are provided with suitable covers as c having perforations or openings a a solution and the esca e of air. Means are provided to allow 0 the flow of solution from one end of the trough which receives the. solution to be treated to the other end past the various partitions. Thus y the trough feed end is raised and the respective partitions it have gaps it under them or openings at their bases so that the liquor can. flow through. Partitions 9 allow the liquid to flow over them or through their tops. The efl'ect is to cause the liquor to flow repeatedly down and up or from compartment to compartment until it is dis charged as by one or more pipes at, when it may be barren. If not so, it can be further treated. It is not essential that the troughs be straight as they may have circular or other suitable forms. I regulate the, supply, which is through any pipe or feed as 8 having a regulated cook or tap as at, reducing it until the efiluent is found to be barren, or as nearly so as is deemed satis factory.

Thenumber of box or trough compartments or chambers may vary, a dozen having in practice been satisfactory. The entire box is arranged in some cases so that the whole of its charcoal and contents can be tipped into a chute or receiver, and liquid drained from it being reused as desired.

I bring the liquid intocontact with enough charcoal r (inserted in small pieces) or granulated sufiiciently to present a large surface to the solution, to enable the precipitation to be eliected as desired. Porous wood charcoal in pieces approximating half an inch in diameter answers well, but my invention is not limited thereto. After the charcoal is filled into the compartments the wooden or other covers are put on, so arranged as to permit liquid and air to rise through or pass them while keeping floating-charcoal and Fig. 3 an support ot a This invention relates to the precipitation of precious metal from solution used in cyaniding or in chlorination.

Time is of muchimportance in precipitation operations when large quantities of material must be dealt with; and charcoal precipitation plant should neither take up so much room, nor cost so much initially, nor need such considerable handling as the plant heretofore used, for it is often only then that the pregnant solution can be prof itably treated by charcoal precipitation.

I find that I secure precipitation on charcoal by my invention without incurring the objections above quote I I stead of my process being slow it is rapid; instead of being cumbersome and costly it is convenient and cheap, and thus contrasts with the use of charcoal referred to in his Work on Cyanide Practice (3rd edition) by Alfred James, a cyanid expert, who says: In Victoria a number of cyanid plants have been equipped with charcoal tubs This method appears clumsy and troublesome appears more than twice as expensive as the zinc process, and the initial expense of the installation is at least four times as great. Pros fessor Park, an expert referring to the use of charcoal for precipitation, states: The process is too slow and cumbersome to recommend itself in large plants where hundreds of tons of solution have to be handled in the twenty four hours,

provide compartmented precipitation troughs or boxes (discarding the old independent tubs) with charcoal, and solution in regulated motion, and in addition I force through the solution air, or gaseous fluid having a like efl'ect.

he accompanying drawings illustrate a simple form of plant I may employ.

Figure l is a side elevation in vertical secmeans to allow of the passage of from escaping. Any suitable locking de- 1. In a precipitation a paratus' the coinvices for the covers, and for safeguarding l blnatwn a tank divi ed into chambers other parts are usable at will, these not needi and provided with partitions so arranged as ing illustration. to cause an alternate downward and upward Aeration is secured by means of any pipflow of the liquid under treatment in said ing or main Z from which branches 76 extend chambers, said chambers being adapted to down into some or all of the precipitation I be filled with charcoal, means for supplying 5 compartments, alternate ones being suflithe liquid to be treated to said tank at one cient. The foot of each pipe is is an extenend, outlet means at the otherend of said sion in any suitable direction along each tank, and means for forc ng air into some compartment base transversely to the trough of said chambers, substantially as described. as at p,-or, as at .79 longitudinally of the 2. In a precipitation apparatus the c om- 7 trough, -or ringwise a at or oth wis bination of a tank provided with partitions suitably. Each foot as p, p or p is suitentending upwardly from the bottom thereof ably perforated as at 9, so that air forced dividing said tank into chambers, a perfothrough ipes 75, under regulation as by rated cover for said tank, partitions extendcocks or valves as m, will emerge through mg through said cover toward the bottom of the perforations into the compartments, and said tank, said tank being thus divided into rise through the same. The aeration is bene- Chambers so arranged that the liquid under ficial in promoting precipitation from the treatment is caused to flow alternately downcyanid or 'chlorin liquor. Cyanid or chlorin wardly and upwardly, inlet and outlet means liquor containing precious metal is fed in for said tank, and means for forcing ail from time to time, or continuously during into some of said chambers, substantially as the air feed; and will travel or rise past the described. I covers, and pass to each succeeding compart- 3. In a precipitation apparatus the comment in turn, it being tested at will for bination of a tank hav ng a compartment precious metal. If the liquor is found to and upwardly flaring sides and partitions be sufficiently relieved of its precious metal extcndlng upwardly from said bottom dias it discharges at n, I may then further viding the tank into a series of chambers, a treat, it for recovery of alues as of copper, perforated COVGI 01 Sald tank, intermediate if it contains sufficient thereof, but that is partitions passing through said cover but beyond this invention. Precious metal, as stopping short of the bottom of said tank, metallic gold, deposits on, and in the charinlet and outlet pipes for the liquid to be coal which when well loaded therewith is treated, and means for forcing air into some burned, as is well understood, to recover the of said chambers, substantially as described. gold as bar gold. 4;. In a precipitation apparatus the com- I may provide removable gratings or bination of a tank having a bottom and upcages in the compartments for expeditiously wardly extending flaring sides and provided and comprehensively handling the charcoal, With a perforated Cover and partitions eX- and the covers may also be gratings, one to tending upwardly from said bottom through each or one to a series of compartments: the said cover, an intermediate series of partiend cover a is shown without holes. tions extending downwardly through said Any suitable blower, or fan, or power will cover but stopping short of the bottom of be used for forcing air or the like through said tank, inlet and outlet pipes for said the liquid. tank, and means for forcing air into some In this specification the word charcoal of said hambers including an open main includes any equally suitable carbonaceous branch, pipes connected to said open main preparation. and extending down into the bottom of said Instead of forcing air into alternate comchambers and perforated at their lower ends, partments, as shown on the drawing, it may said chambers being adapted to be filled be forced into each compartment or into such with charcoal, substantially as described. compartments as is found necessary. Aera- In witness whereof I have hereunto set tion in compartments as '5 will promote the my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

deposition not only therein but also in other compartments j p THOMAS EDWARDS.

What I claim as my invention and desire Witnesses:

to secure by Letters Patent of the United GEORGE GARIBALDI TURRI,

States is l BEATRICE M. LOWE. 

